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Which of the following general statements about Earth’s atmosphere is not true? |
The sea level temperature depends primarily on the total amount of gas in our atmosphere. |
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Suppose that Earth’s ice caps melted, but everything else about the Earth’s surface and atmosphere stayed the same. What would happen to Earth’s average surface temperature? |
The surface temperature would increase. |
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Which of the following best describes how the greenhouse effect works? |
A planet’s surface absorbs visible sunlight and returns this absorbed energy to space as infrared light. Greenhouse gases slow the escape of this infrared radiation, which thereby heats the lower atmosphere. |
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All the statements below are true. Which one gives the primary reason why the surface of Venus today is some 450°C hotter than the surface of Earth? |
Venus has a much stronger greenhouse effect than Earth. |
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Which of the following statements about Earth’s troposphere is not generally true? |
It is the layer of the atmosphere in which ozone absorbs dangerous ultraviolet light from the Sun. |
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In very general terms, how do the temperature structures of the atmospheres of Venus and Mars differ from that of Earth? |
They lack ultraviolet-absorbing stratospheres. |
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Does Venus have auroras around its poles, like Earth? Why or why not? |
No, because it lacks a global magnetic field. |
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All the following statements are true. Which one explains why convection can occur in the troposphere but not in the stratosphere? |
Temperature declines with altitude in the troposphere but increases with altitude in the stratosphere. |
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Which of the following is not caused by the Coriolis effect on Earth? |
Water going down a drain swirls in opposite directions in the northern and southern hemispheres. |
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Why is the Coriolis effect so weak on Venus? |
Because Venus rotates so slowly. |
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All of the following have occurred over long periods of time on Earth. Which one is not thought to have played a major role in long-term changes in Earth’s climate? |
A gradual rise in the atmospheric content of oxygen. |
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Why do we think that Venus has so much more atmospheric gas than Earth? |
Most of the gases that have been released from volcanoes on Earth later returned to the surface. |
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Why is thermal escape of atmospheric gas much easier from the Moon than from Earth? |
Because the Moon’s gravity is so much weaker than Earth’s. |
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Observations indicate that the Moon has water ice in craters near the poles. Where do scientists suspect this water came from? |
Ice brought by comet impacts long ago. |
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All the following statements about Mars are true. Which one might have led to a significant loss of atmospheric gas to space? |
Mars lost any global magnetic field that it may once have had. |
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What makes us think that Mars must once have had an atmosphere that was warmer and had higher surface pressure? |
The atmosphere is too cold and thin for liquid water today, yet we see evidence of flowing water in the past. |
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Which of the following best explain what we think happened to outgassed water vapor on Venus? |
Ultraviolet light split the water molecules, and the hydrogen then escaped to space. |
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What would happen to Earth if we somehow moved our planet to the orbit of Venus? |
Earth would suffer a runaway greenhouse effect and become as hot or hotter than Venus. |
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Deuterium is much more abundant on Venus than Earth. What do we think this fact tells us about Venus? |
That it has lost a tremendous amount of water as a result of molecules being split by ultraviolet light and the hydrogen escaping to space. |
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Why does Earth have so little carbon dioxide in its atmosphere compared to Venus? |
Earth has just as much carbon dioxide as Venus, but most of it is locked up in carbonate rocks rather than being free in the atmosphere. |
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Which characteristic of Earth explains why we have an ultraviolet-absorbing stratosphere? |
the existence of photosynthetic life |
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Which two factors are critical to the existence of the carbon dioxide (CO2) cycle on Earth? |
plate tectonics and liquid water oceans |
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Suppose Earth were to cool down a little. How would the carbon dioxide cycle tend to restore temperatures to normal? |
Cooler temperatures lead to slower formation of carbonate minerals in the ocean, so carbon dioxide released by volcanism builds up in the atmosphere and strengthens the greenhouse effect. |
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According to current science, why didn’t oxygen begin to accumulate in the atmosphere for more than a billion years after life appeared on the Earth? |
Oxygen released by life was removed from the atmosphere by chemical reactions with surface rocks until the surface rock could absorb no more. |
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Earth has been gradually warming over the past few decades. Based on a great deal of evidence, scientists believe that this warming is caused by _____. |
human activities that are increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere |
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Which of the following correctly lists the terrestrial worlds in order from the thickest atmosphere to the thinnest atmosphere? (Note: Mercury and the Moon are considered together in this question.) |
Venus, Earth, Mars, Moon/Mercury |
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Which planet(s) have an atmosphere that consists mostly of carbon dioxide? |
Venus and Mars |
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Suppose we represent Earth with a basketball. On this scale, most of the air in Earth’s atmosphere would fit in a layer that is _________. |
about the thickness of a sheet of paper |
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Why does atmospheric pressure decrease as you go higher in altitude on Earth? |
The weight of the atmosphere above you decreases with altitude. |
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In the context of a planetary atmosphere, what is a bar? |
A unit of pressure roughly equal to the atmospheric pressure at sea level on Earth. |
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Which of the following is the most basic definition of a greenhouse gas? |
a gas that absorbs infrared light |
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Which of the following is not a greenhouse gas? |
oxygen (O2) |
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Suppose that Earth’s atmosphere had no greenhouse gases. Then Earth’s average surface temperature would be _______. |
well below the freezing point of water |
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Which of the following correctly lists the layers of Earth’s atmosphere from the ground upward? |
troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere, exosphere |
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Why is the sky blue (on Earth)? |
Because molecules scatter blue light more effectively than red light. |
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Which of the following general statements about light and Earth’s atmosphere is not true? |
Visible light from the Sun is absorbed in the exosphere. |
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What is a magnetosphere? |
a region of space around a planet in which the planet’s magnetic field can trap charged particles |
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What is the difference between weather and climate? |
Weather refers to short-term changes in wind, rain, and temperature, while climate refers to the long-term average of weather. |
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Which of the following describes a primary role of global circulation cells in a planet’s atmosphere? |
They transport heat from the equator toward the poles. |
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What important change in the Sun over the past four billion years is thought to be very important to understanding the climates of Venus, Earth, and Mars? |
a gradual brightening with time |
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Which of the following best describes the nature and origin of the atmospheres of the Moon and Mercury? |
They have thin exospheres only, with gas coming from impacts of subatomic particles and photons. |
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Which of the following is not a characteristic of the seasons on Mars? |
As on Earth, the seasons are caused primarily by axis tilt and orbital distance has virtually no effect. |
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Why is Mars red? |
Chemical reactions between surface rock and atmospheric oxygen literally rusted the surface. |
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What do we mean by a runaway greenhouse effect? |
a greenhouse effect that keeps getting stronger until all of a planet’s greenhouse gases are in its atmosphere |
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Based on everything we have learned about Venus and Mars, what is the most surprising aspect of Earth’s climate history? |
The fact that the temperature of our planet has remained relatively steady throughout our planet’s history. |
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Which of the following statements about ozone (in Earth’s stratosphere) is not true: |
The presence of ozone was crucial to the origin of life some 4 billion years ago. |
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How did molecular oxygen (O2) get into Earth’s atmosphere? |
It was released by life through the process of photosynthesis. |
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What is the importance of the carbon dioxide (CO2) cycle? |
It regulates the carbon dioxide concentration of our atmosphere, keeping temperatures moderate. |
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In the context of Earth’s climate history, what do we mean by snowball Earth? |
It refers to a very deep ice age that occurred hundreds of millions of years ago. |
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Which of the following is not an expected consequence of global warming? |
The entire Earth will warm up by the same amount. |
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